Development of an integrated computational tool to improve performance of irrigation districts

Abstract

Nowadays irrigation district managers require several tools to assess irrigation networks' performance such as hydraulic models, geographic information systems (GIS) or decision support systems (DSS) which are available but as independent elements. Thus, simplifying the use of these tools by means of applications that integrate all these components would be helpful for irrigation district managers. In this paper, a computer tool combining a GIS, a hydraulic model and performance indicators (PIs) has been developed creating a database to deal with most information required in an irritation district. MapObjects Java Edition was used for the GIS integration and EPANET calculation module for the hydraulic modeling. This tool enables the study of the network performance, taking into account real measures (data from the remote control system) and simulated measures (obtained when running the hydraulic model) which are stored in a database and used to calculate different indicators that can be represented in the GIS. The PIs calculated with this tool give important information regarding the network response to different conditions, malfunction problems and failures in supply. Therefore, this tool is also useful to study the effects of improvements and the quality of service provided to farmers.

Fuzzy Sarsa Learning of Operational Instructions to Schedule Water Distribution and Delivery

“…Recent studies on water delivery systems include Wang et al (1995), Reddy et al (1999), Kaur et al (2011), Santhi and Pundarikanthan (2000), Anwar and Clarke (2001), Nixon et al (2001), Bhaktikul (2004a, 2004b), Monem and Namdarian (2005), Mathur et al (2009), Ramesh et al (2009), Hong et al (2012, Urrestarazu et al (2012) and Liu et al (2012). Although these studies have advantages in some aspects, one can find the following weaknesses:…”

Water: Advanced Irrigation Technologies

“…However, due to the probabilistic nature of users irrigating simultaneously (Anwar et al, 2006) these systems are often designed with excessive distribution capacity, making them more expensive than intermittent systems (Planells-Alandi et al, 2001). Computational tools involving integrated geographic information systems, real-time monitoring, and modeling of hydraulic data with decision support systems are also being used (e.g., Perez-Urrestarazu et al, 2012) to improve the operational performance of pressured irrigation networks. Sectoring, where farmers are organized to use water in turns, has been shown (Carrillo Cobo et al, 2011) to be one of the most effective methods of reducing energy consumption in pressurized, on-demand irrigation networks.…”

Extended Assessment of Sprinkler Irrigation Uniformity in Greenhouses Using GIS and Hydraulic Modeling

“…Other studies used GIS and hydraulic simulation programs for flood hazard zoning [19] or used GIS tools to determine shoreline morphological changes [20]. The only study that used a GIS program with EPANET was the EPANET study of Pérez Urrestarazu et al [21] for failure and problem area monitoring in different irrigation sectors. Therefore, it will be the first time that QGIS and EPANET have been used together to geospatially represent rainfall and calculate distribution uniformity in a system with a pressure-dependent demand.…”